A woman from Silver Spring, Maryland, was killed after someone stole her car in a shopping center parking lot in Sterling, Virginia. News4’s Paul Wagner reports.
Deputies have named the man who they say stole a Maryland grandmother's SUV outside a Northern Virginia shopping center on Sunday and then hit and killed her.
Melody Waldecker, 54, had just walked into a 7-Eleven at the Town Center at Sterling shopping center when she noticed a man getting into her Kia Sorento and tried to stop him, her family members said.
Jose Aguilar-Martinez, 21, took off in the Sorento and hit Waldecker with her own car, the Loudoun County Sheriff's office said.
Waldecker, a mother of four and grandmother to eight, died at the scene of the crash, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies quickly got a description of the suspect and the car before broadcasting a lookout, based on police radio traffic. Within minutes, eyewitnesses reported seeing the suspect in the stolen Kia hit a car on Argonne Avenue before taking off. It was then spotted a short distance away at Cedar Lake Plaza before deputies and state police saw the car near the intersection of Frederick Drive and Leatherleaf Drive.
"According to the Fairfax units here, they have the suspect at gunpoint now," someone said on police audio.
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Officers saturated the area after getting reports the Kia was damaged and making a loud squealing noise. The manhunt ended in Trumpet Circle.
Aguilar-Martinez is an undocumented immigrant and was recently living in Sterling, according to the sheriff's office. Homeland Security Investigations issued an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer for Aguilar-Martinez, who had a California driver's license, authorities said.
Aguilar-Martinez was charged with carjacking, which is a felony. Authorities are holding him at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center without bond.
The sheriff's office said they anticipate more charges against him.
Waldecker, of Silver Spring, had gone to visit her ailing mother shortly before she was killed, family members told News4.
Her Facebook page shows her taking care of her mother and going to an Orioles game at Camden Yards with her grandsons.
Waldecker worked as a caregiver at a nursing home in Montgomery County and was dedicated to her family, relatives said.
